DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA：
FORCIBLY RETURNED WOMAN NO LONGER AT RISK

A woman named Koo Jeong-hwa (aged 24) has been detained since 3 December 2017 in North Korea and a decision on her sentence is expected from the Ministry of State Security in March 2018. She is at risk of being sent to a political prison camp together with her 4-year-old son, where they may be subjected to torture or other ill-treatment.

Koo Jeong-hwa was transferred to a detention centre in Hoeryeong City, North Korea on 3 December 2017. There is a high chance that she will be convicted without a fair trial and given a life sentence at a political prison camp, where she may be subjected to forced labour, torture, or other ill-treatment.

Previously detained with her son and eight other North Koreans in Sinuiju, China, a city near the North Korean border, each person in the group has now been sent back to their respective home towns for investigation and detention. The authorities have been in contact with Koo Jeong-hwa’s mother, and claim that she has committed treason by leaving her country. As treason is considered a crime against the state in North Korea, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of State Security, which also operates the political prison camp system. According to the criminal code of North Korea, the death penalty can be applied to persons aged 18 or above charged with treason.

Koo Jeong-hwa’s son was originally detained at the same detention centre in Hoeryeong, but was sent home after 20 days because the centre said it could not take care of him. When returned home he was suffering from frostbite on his hands and feet. Although not currently detained, he is still at risk of being sent to a political prison camp with his mother after she receives a sentence, simply for being related to someone convicted for crimes against the state, or “guilt-by-association”. 

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Detained since 3 December 2017 in North Korea for leaving the country without legal permits, Koo Jeong-hwa’s family reports that she is no longer at risk of being sent to a political prison camp together with her 4-year-old son.

Koo Jeong-hwa is no longer at imminent risk of being sent to a political prison camp according to her husband who recently received reliable information about her situation. The Ministry of State Security was expected to make a decision on her sentence in March 2018, and fears were that she would be convicted without a fair trial and given a life sentence at a political prison camp.

Koo Jeong-hwa left North Korea with her son and eight other North Koreans in October 2017 and was detained on 4 November in China. Forcibly returned to Sinuiju, North Korea on 17 November, she and her son were detained there for two weeks, before being transferred to Hoeryeong City, where she lived before leaving North Korea.

Koo Jeong-hwa’s son was released twenty days after the transfer, and he is currently staying with his grandmother. Amnesty International does not have any information about the other eight North Koreans in the group.

Amnesty International has been in communication with Koo Jeong-hwa’s husband, who now lives in South Korea, and has asked that information about her whereabouts not be made public for now. He thanked Amnesty International supporters for taking acting action on his family’s behalf, and believed that it was helpful.

No further action is requested from the UA network. Many thanks to all who sent appeals.

This is the third update of UA 253/17. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa24/7863/2018/en/

Further information on UA: 253/17 Index: ASA 24/8105/2018 Issue Date: 21 March 2018